Traditionally we usually do start the season off well, but as long as this car has a good baseline, which it looks like it does, then there is no stopping us, we have great facilities and our development path and cycle should be greater than all of the midfield, and on par with the Lotus.

This year we should get closer to our rightful position, just behind the big boys and on par with Lotus.

This would have to be the realistic goal and a great sping board into next year when we should be reaching a good level of continuity in the new corporate structure and suppliers.

This would also be the first time in a long time I can say I have not heard anyone talking up our chances, we have been very quiet, methodical and productive during our testing and the lack of chest pounding has been a nice change.

My ony one concern is the rear end, you look at the top teams and they are very clean, ours still seems very messy and not as clean, it looks like the body work is not long enough to create more vanes etc. But I'm sure this is just an aesthetic thing, and that the windtunnel would prove me wrong.

Traditionally we usually do start the season off well, but as long as this car has a good baseline, which it looks like it does, then there is no stopping us, we have great facilities and our development path and cycle should be greater than all of the midfield, and on par with the Lotus.

This year we should get closer to our rightful position, just behind the big boys and on par with Lotus.

This would have to be the realistic goal and a great sping board into next year when we should be reaching a good level of continuity in the new corporate structure and suppliers.

This would also be the first time in a long time I can say I have not heard anyone talking up our chances, we have been very quiet, methodical and productive during our testing and the lack of chest pounding has been a nice change.

Here hoping for a good strong, consistant improving season

Agreed. one of the issues here is that most dismiss both driver's capability. I think that is a mistake. If Barichello was the yard stick, then comparing Maldonaldo (who was sometimes on par with Bari) with Senna, from the testing times, it seems that Senna has at least shown a better pace. Today he did a low 1.22 on softs and had some good long runs, where Maldonaldo was a second off on supersofts! Now we dont know fuel loads etc, but given the sensible approach that Williams had during testing, that lap time is not a fluke and to me it shows some potential both on the car and driver.

Certainly judging from the driver coaches that the old fox Williams has hired this year, I bet he has seen talent that is worth cultivating at least with Senna. He can certainly recognize talent much better than all of us armchair enthusiasts and although I'm not a Senna fanboy, I truly believe that he is an undeveloped talent, judging from his past performances.

This year will show for sure. I just hope that Williams and its drivers do a good job to bring back the brand in its rightful place, just as I was used to it when I was growing up.

I've always believed Bruno has just needed to have a full winter with a team to get settled, have a full testing program, and be able to start the season with confidence in what he's going to be racing. People have got to understand that he hasn't had a 'full' season, including testing etc. since 2008(!), where he finished 2nd in GP2, so finally he is getting the same background to a year that everyone else is getting.

And he's looking really good, like you say djf1. He looks to be a bit quicker than Maldonado, who is known to have good raw speed, and Wurz/others in the team like him as well. He's kind of an unpolished gem.

Agreed. one of the issues here is that most dismiss both driver's capability. I think that is a mistake. If Barichello was the yard stick, then comparing Maldonaldo (who was sometimes on par with Bari) with Senna, from the testing times, it seems that Senna has at least shown a better pace. Today he did a low 1.22 on softs and had some good long runs, where Maldonaldo was a second off on supersofts! Now we dont know fuel loads etc, but given the sensible approach that Williams had during testing, that lap time is not a fluke and to me it shows some potential both on the car and driver.

Maldo was on hards at the time, actually. If you are referring to today's times, that is.

Both drivers' bests times on the 8 days of Barcelona testing were pretty close to each other, with Maldonado's best time being 1 tenth faster that Senna's best. But then again, the car seemed to change a lot from day to day so who knows what they were doing and what differences in set up they had in each car.

Specially today when Bruno was busy doing racing simulations while Pastor was mostly testing set ups.

Maldo was on hards at the time, actually. If you are referring to today's times, that is.

Both drivers' bests times on the 8 days of Barcelona testing were pretty close to each other, with Maldonado's best time being 1 tenth faster that Senna's best. But then again, the car seemed to change a lot from day to day so who knows what they were doing and what differences in set up they had in each car.

Specially today when Bruno was busy doing racing simulations while Pastor was mostly testing set ups.

That made me lol.

Maldonado was on super softs for his time...Its just that the conditions were different than in the morning. Senna's quickest time was actually a tenth faster than what Maldonando did last week. However according to this interview Bruno reckons he still did not get the best out of the softs......Senna interview

I refuse to get my hopes up (like last year), but I think that the foundation is better than last year - almost no problems with reliability, very productive testing, the team seems to be better organized. Both Maldonado and Senna seem pretty comfortable with the car, and Pastor has stated several times that it is better than FW33 (which is not hard to be).

As it is repeated here constantly that test times mean nothing, I'm eagerly waiting for the first race of the season.

I refuse to get my hopes up (like last year), but I think that the foundation is better than last year - almost no problems with reliability, very productive testing, the team seems to be better organized. Both Maldonado and Senna seem pretty comfortable with the car, and Pastor has stated several times that it is better than FW33 (which is not hard to be).

As it is repeated here constantly that test times mean nothing, I'm eagerly waiting for the first race of the season.

I think we'll be ahead of Lotus.

Wow, I hope you're right, but somehow I think Lotus has the better chassis, at least as things are atm.

It does look quite stiff in that video, but that could just be a preparation setup for one of the billiard table tracks like Bahrain or China. Barcelona is smooth but not completely flat like some of the newer tracks.

A quite long interview with Toto Wolff in Austrian newspaper Der Standard: http://derstandard.a...bringt-Geld-mit (German)Nothing earth shattering, but I thought maybe of interest to the readership of this thread.

We must pity him, is a poor man. Life has reserved only defeats for him, so he uses the forum to get his revenge.

wait for Melbourne when we see the same people preaching sermons to me.. complain about the same drivers they are following. I have been consistent with my view from the beginning and i expect people preaching sermons to stick to their views a the end of the season. I am ready to eat my words if the drivers prove me wrong are you willing to ?

Williams and Force India are my favorite teams after Mclaren so i am entitled to my views. I know how Bruno had a miserable time in Lotus-Renault not just in terms of speed but the nature of his off-track excursions were typical of what you expect from a pay driver. So let us wait before jumping the gun .. The season is around the corner. I have no personal axe to grind against any of these drivers but for me F1 needs to a championship of best drivers at-least in top teams like Williams. I was hoping that the loss of EBD , engine change and a new philosophy would get them back to the front but when i saw who they had signed to pilot the cars i was like wtf..

If everybody saw the rosy picture when the truth was contrary we will have a forum full of patronizing brigade won't we ? So Ferrari are in trouble is it news to you ? Do you want to argue otherwise ? Are you ready to bet that Ferrari will finish on the podium at Melbourne ?How sure are you that they will even make it to Q3 ? So people should only s*ck up no matter what ? If you follow the team as passionately as you claim to be you would not get wound up by a nobody like me right ?

Paying to drive does not mean they are a bad driver. They would not have attracted their own sponsorship in the first place if they were no good.

Senna might have had a few moments, but I can think of other drivers who had a total fiasco of a year in 2011, and they are certainly paid a salary...

So let's just wait and see - if the car is an improvement (God I hope so!) the drivers will have the room to do their thing.

Hiring Pastor is at-least understandable cos of continuity but Bruno for me is a bit too erratic. Bruno had a golden opportunity to get the drive ahead of Grosjean but he failed ? Now have i called Sutil a pay-driver ? He also brought money .

I am ready to eat my words if the drivers prove me wrong are you willing to ?

I actually expect you to disappear from this thread for a couple of weeks if you are proven wrong, like all good trolls do. And maybe also leave the forum for a while if you are also proven wrong regarding the other teams and threads you are trolling.

I actually expect you to disappear from this thread for a couple of weeks if you are proven wrong, like all good trolls do. And maybe also leave the forum for a while if you are also proven wrong regarding the other teams and threads you are trolling.

While xtremespeedjunkie may have some problems having civilised discussion, he has a point. Williams has two poor (pay)drivers in the team and that does not help with achieving success.

Well, we really don't know if they are poor. Being sixth (till five laps before the end) at Monaco in a (what was proven to be throughout the whole season) absolute dog of a car is not a small feat. Not getting destroyed by the most experienced F1 driver in your rookie season is not a small feat either. And at last, being a GP2 champion is not irrelevant too.

As for Senna, here you can employ Grosjean situation. Is Grosjean a poor pay driver? Some reports said that he is in Lotus just because of Total, and he was poor during his first F1 campaign when he was in Renault. I doubt he will be viewed as a poor pay driver after 2012.Senna started serious racing very late. If he wasn't good, he wouldn't be considered by Honda, Lotus or Williams. This season will show how good he is - he is in a decent team and had a proper start to the season.

And finally, not everybody has to be championship winning material to be in F1 - ask Rubens.

I actually expect you to disappear from this thread for a couple of weeks if you are proven wrong, like all good trolls do. And maybe also leave the forum for a while if you are also proven wrong regarding the other teams and threads you are trolling.

The funny thing about the pathetic bloke is, that he knows so much about F1, he has a crystal ball and going to prove everyone wrong... not bad for a guy who like to go on to forums just to statisy some small guy syndrome. Can;t do it in real life and stand up for himself, but a big strong boy who can take on the world sitting behind his keyboard. LOSER.

Was watching a news report on this dilequents, and it was how there this new group of people who get there kicks from doing exactly this, creating stirs and been general wankers, but the worst thing about these sort of people is they think it's fun, and enjoyable. xspeedjunkie you also one of those loosers who posts things on facebook walls, after a daughter has been killed, or raped, for the world to see.

I say one thing to you, go outside get away from your keyboard, put a smile on your face and give your mum a hug, cause she's the only one who cares for you.